Microsoft Reportedly Nets Nearly $800M from Android Royalties

If you're looking for where Microsoft's mobile revenue come from, don't look to Windows Phone. Instead, look to Android, where Microsoft has received $792 million in patent royalties from just two companies in a single quarter, Samsung and HTC, according to the analyst firm Trefis.

The Boy Genius site reports that analysts at Trefis provided those numbers. They based them on estimates that HTC pays Microsoft $10 per Android device in patent royalties, and Samsung pays between $10 and $12 per Android device in patent royalties.

Of course, Microsoft gets a cut of those Android sales. Still, innovation, not litigation, is the way that tech companies grow, so Microsoft would be much happier if it were getting its money from Windows Phone sales, not from patent royalties.